Objectives:Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) suffer from serious impairments in social functioning. However, OC and comorbid depressive symptoms only partially account for these impairments. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate basic empathic abilities and their relationships with OC symptom dimensions in patients with OCD. Methods:Forty two patients with OCD and 99 healthy graduate students completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to measure four dimensions of empathy including perspective taking(PT), fantasy(FS), empathic concern(EC), and personal distress(PD). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale(Y-BOCS), the Y-BOCS Symptom Checklist, and the Beck Depression Inventory were also measured. Results:We found that patients with OCD scored lower on PT(F=42.2, p<.001), and EC(F=4.9, p=.03) subscales, and higher on PD subscale(F=31.7, p<.001) than normal controls. However, after adjusting for comorbid depression and education, only PT subscale remained significant(F=12.4, p=.001). Regarding the associations between empathy components and OC symptom dimensions within the patient group, cleaning dimension solely showed positive correlations with PT(r=0.36, p=.019) and FS(r=0.51, p=.001) scores. Conclusion:These findings suggest that, irrespective of their OC or depressive symptoms, patients with OCD may have impairment in perspective taking ability, and washers are likely to show more intact empathic abilities than patients with other OC dimensions.